Human Skin
by Someone Who Isn't Me
Summary: If the gods of the Cthulhu Mythos were somehow transformed into people...
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

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><p>The call came during his first show of the year. Niel Arthur Hotep had been in the middle of shooting sparks from his fingertips when a cell phone vibrated in his pocket. It burned red-hot against the magician's thigh, nearly smoking a hole through his pants. <em>Must be one of <em>those _calls… _He stopped what he was doing and stared hard at the crowd, then made some improbable excuse and ran backstage.

Alone in his dressing room, the magician answered his phone. The heat subsided to a pleasant warmth and static crackled in his ear. ''What do you want from me, O great and powerful one?" Niel asked, knowing that his sarcastic tone wouldn't be understood. There was still only static coming from the other end of the line. This was a normal effect of trans-dimensional phone calls, but it was unusual for his master not to have spoken up and made some bizarre request by this time.

"Hello, anyone there? Azin g'ranl taph?" he asked into the void. A thin, piping voice answered; a little girl hoarse from singing monsters to sleep.

"They've all gone down…" she said, trailing off into nothing.

"Who? Down where?" asked the magician, bordering on hysteria. His right hand tightened into a razor-clawed paw, but he had himself under control before he could shape-shift completely. The girl, or whatever she actually was, managed to reply again.

"Everyone. They're down … where you are now … _He _was angry and broke through the wall… … " and then there was just static again. The magician ended the call and cursed to himself. He didn't care what the others did, as long as they left him alone. But if the Master was loose in this world, well, that was a problem. The magician could be in a thousand places at once, but he was no match for that kind of raw, destructive power.

Then he thought for a moment and realized that the situation wasn't quite as bad as he thought. The rest of them usually couldn't take human form, so they would be powerless. They would be disoriented. For a few decades, they wouldn't even know their own names.

Niel had no idea what to do, but creatures like him never bothered to make plans. He left the dressing room and returned to the stage, where his audience awaited. The poor fools were hypnotized so strongly that they hadn't even noticed he was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

Hello reader(s)!

I don't think I'm going to continue this story... I just kind of lost interest, but I'll publish some oneshot-type things that are vaguely related to it.

Here's the first one. It's not exactly the same storyline; it's more like my original idea of the Old Ones/Elder Gods being actual humans. Ever wondered what Nyarlathotep and Azathoth would be like as little boys?

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><p>"Hey, retard!" came the shout from across the hall. Niel sighed and looked behind him to find the source of the voice. The insult wasn't aimed at him, but it was annoying all the same. He had been in the middle of some particularly interesting plans, but that would have to wait. Niel turned to the boy walking beside him and whispered:<p>

"Alex, you might want to think of a comeback right about now, or they'll never leave you alone."

Alex didn't respond, as usual, but continued humming some crazy little song. Everything about his manner was vague, from the vacant eyes to the loose, confused-looking way he walked. He was tall for his age, with pale skin, dark features, and an abnormally long slash of a mouth.

Niel, on the other hand, had the face of an Arab angel; exotic, but sure to be handsome in a few years. The boys were new in school. They had arrived together a few days before, with their only supervision being a phone number written on a card. The principal, after a troubling phone conversation with their guardian, agreed to let the boys stay. At first, the teachers wanted to put Alex in special education class instead of the regular fifth grade, but Niel talked them out of it. He could be very… persuasive when he wanted to be.

Strange stares and whispers had followed them everywhere since they had come, and Niel knew that it would come to some sort of confrontation. There were four boys now, following them to the cafeteria. They took Alex's silence as confirmation of his 'retard' status and continued to taunt him. The ringleader of the group stepped uncomfortably close to the boys and opened his mouth.

"What's the matter with you? Did your mother drop you on your head? Oh wait, you don't even have a mother, do you?"

Niel just stood there, smirking a bit, relishing the moment. Those kids didn't know what Alex was capable of. If they made him angry enough, all hell would break loose…

Alex didn't move either. He was still staring off into space, completely unconcerned with what was being said.

The group of bullies were the ones getting angry now, and a different, pug-faced boy stepped up, leaning toward Niel this time. His voice was like oil, mocking and sickly-smooth.

"I know what's wrong with you two. You're gay, aren't you? Little fags too embarrassed to talk because then we'll know about you making out with each other."

The boy smiled nastily, and Niel returned the gesture. When their insults failed to cause a reaction, one of the bullies signaled to the other. The boy disappeared around a corner and came back with a lunch tray full of food. He glanced pointedly at Alex, and Niel knew what they were going to do.

He felt like he should at least warn them. "I don't. suggest. You mess with him," said Niel in a voice whose threatening tone was lost on the four pitiful specimens of humanity.

Instead of doing the reasonable thing and just walking away, the boy dumped the contents of his lunch tray onto Alex's shirt.

For a second, Alex just stood there with milk and pizza sauce dripping down his shirt. He blinked once, looking even more confused than usual. The bullies began to snicker. Then, his face twisting into a snarl, Alex grabbed a nearby chair and swung it at the bullies' faces. The next few moments were a blur of flailing limbs and screeches of pain as metal chair legs connected with flesh. The bullies found themselves unable to run away. Alex swung the chair back and forth with supernatural strength, growling like an animal in his blind rage.

He had hit two of the boys and knocked the other two unconscious when Niel decided to intervene. Even though he enjoyed watching people suffer, they mustn't attract too much suspicion. He ducked a flying chair and grabbed Alex by the shoulders, managing to restrain his arms.

"That's enough!" Niel barked in a voice that was unusually deep for his age. Alex ignored him and continued struggling until Niel muttered something into his ear. Alex relaxed and went limp, nearly falling sideways into Niel. Alex let himself be led away as frantic teachers descended upon the scene.

The idiot was smiling.


End file.
